Phoenix International Communications has designs on helping webOS rise from the ashes. While its long-term goals include launching an actual device at some point, right now the group is doing its level best to bring the OS to existing devices. Phoenix’ plans aren’t what you’d expect. Instead of building a ROM that you can flash to a phone like the Galaxy Nexus or Nexus S — or even to the unfortunately orphaned HP TouchPad — Phoenix is developing webOS as an Android app.

The current version of the app(erating system?) is painfully slow, but that’s understandable given the craziness that’s taking place. Clearly when you’re attempting to roll an entire mobile OS into an .APK it’s going to take a little time to get performance up to an acceptable level. Hardware acceleration support is currently lacking, and that will make a huge difference once Phoenix sorts it out. As slow as webOS runs on the Nexus S in this form, it’s still amazing to see everything from the on-screen keyboard to the web browser to the humble calculator running as apps inside an app on top of an entirely different operating system.

In the near future, you’re going to have a number of different ways to play with webOS. If you’re growing impatient waiting for LG to release its rumored webOS-powered smart TV and you’re not a fan of running operating systems from live CDs, then Phoenix’ OS-as-an-app could be just the ticket. It’s the way Xzibit would want things, too.